Jim Smith standing at the front door of Flagg Grove School. Smith says there used to be a front porch.
Credit Candice Ludlow
Jim Smith sitting in front of the blackboard at Flagg Grove School.
Credit Candice Ludlow
Flagg Grove School
Credit Candice Ludlow
Interior of Flagg Grove School
Credit Candice Ludlow
Flagg Grove School in the middle of the Stephens' family farm.
Credit Candice Ludlow
Desks that the students used when Smith attended. The wooden ones have a back that the lower grade students would use as a desk. The wood and metal ones were for the upper grade students.
Education is the key to social mobility in the United States. This fact was not lost on African Americans who were enslaved and later sharecroppers in the South. In the 1880s one-room schools sprouted up throughout the region. Many of them are now gone forever and just a distant memory. But Flagg Grove School in rural West Tennessee is an exception.